Tucker Cobblepot was the father of Oswald Cobblepot, who would grow up to terrorize Gotham City as The Penguin.

Biography

Little is known of Tucker Cobblepot, although it is assumed that the Cobblepot family was very wealthy, either as wealthy or having almost as much money as the Wayne family. His first son was Oswald, who was treated poorly on account of his deformity. Tucker and his wife Esther had trouble accepting him, and they did not believe Gotham's high society would be welcoming of Oswald. Oswald's abuse of the family cat confirmed Tucker's belief that Oswald had the mannerisms of an untrained animal, and got rid of him by pushing his baby carriage into a river. The carriage proceeded to float into the Arctic World exhibit of the Gotham Zoo, where Oswald was carried off by huge emperor penguins. Tucker, along with his wife, had died by the time Oswald began his assault on Gotham City, presumably of old age or natural causes. Oswald made a public show of placing roses on Tucker and Esther's graves in order to show he had forgiven his parents. Whether his forgiveness was sincere was never revealed, but it was clear Oswald had no such forgiveness in his heart for Batman.

Behind the scenes

Tucker was played by Paul Reubens of Pee-Wee Herman fame.

Tucker's name can be seen on his headstone.

In an early draft of the script Tucker was supposed to have been a district attorney.

The Penguin's father has not been identified in most comic continuities, and Tucker was an original character for Batman Returns.

Diane Salinger played Esther Cobblepot. This marked the second time in a Tim Burton production that Diane Salinger and Paul Reubens played a couple, the first time being Pee Wee's Big Adventure, when Reubens played Pee-Wee Herman and Salinger played Simone the truckstop waitress.